This was my first time knitting socks. I used my own hand-spun alpaca 3 ply yarn. Spinning is my first love.

I used Knit Picks nickle plated circular needles.

I have Knit Picks full range of sizes including their fixed circulars. I love the quality of Knit Picks and find the price better than the more expensive competitors. I would advise not using a low quality needle such as Boyes circulars. The cables are to stiff to work with. The needles connection to the cables snag and they make a fun and easy task, a frustrating one.

I found a great pattern to use that was perfect for my first time. Its simple and easy to follow. I bought the e-video/book so I would have the videos included in the order of the work. I am completely self taught thanks to the internet.

KnitFreedom has some great patterns. Check out the sock pattern I used. It was so much fun.

What I needed was a heavy, warm, pair of alpaca socks for this winter. I call them my boot socks because that’s what I made them for!! No more cold toes for me when I am out with the sheep during winters fury. 😀

We heard a sound, a terrible sound of a very upset cat, yowling. The sound was coming from a old stove pipe that was laying across the metal scrap pile. Having feral cats about that dont like humans, we were cautious. It took us a little while to get the cat out of the pipe since we didnt want to just reach in and grab it, risking injury. Upset feral cats with claws and teeth, not something we wanted to experience. We tipped the pipe one way but the cat didnt slide down. We tipped it the other way and still it didn’t slide down. We then shook it a little at a time and the cat slowly moved to the end. Finally after messing around trying to get it within visual reach we saw its fur. Enough of its back was in reach to scuff it. My daughter pulled it out announcing we didn’t need to be so cautious as most likely the little darling couldn’t hurt a fly! I looked and we laughed. A tiny little 6 week old kitten!!!
She is a tiny darling, scared but ok. We took her up to the house and she will become a part of our house kitty clan. No more feral life for this little bundle.

Well we got the last of the garden harvested. Had to pick all the remaining tomatoes which were green. Got a few more squash too. The veggies I will keep in the basement where its cold but not freezing for the winter. Our deep freezer is already full of ripe veggies. We had a good year despite the drought.

Basil in horse trough.

The house smells like basil now. We harvested the whole crop we had growing in the horse trough. I will hang it in bunches around the house so it can dry and also leave its aroma for us to enjoy.

The cold is on the way so we are done for the year. All thats left is winterizing the house, frugally, and cleaning up the yard.

In the mood for spaghetti and not the junk from a jar! In fact its all from scratch and nothing from any can or jar. My own tomatoes and organic veggies.

I have a sauce maker for the tomatoes so no peeling for me and no worry about seeds.:D

Once I sauce those tomatoes then I can stew the organic veggies till they are soft and mix them in the
So I guess its time to go start cooking that all organic, from scratch spaghetti dinner! sauce. Add herbs and spice, let simmer till thick and pour over homemade egg noodles. My noodles are made from organic multi grain flour that has no corn and from the eggs of my own chickens so no salmonella worries!!

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt.
This book is different and fabulous!!
It not for every kid. My daughter read it at age 10 and I just finished it with my son in our lit class.
It has some realism in it that some kids may have a hard time with because its a tad realistic! Bad things happen. Animals get hurt and worse. But its a story of prevalence and keeping promises, of moving on. Its a story about love and commitment. It also has some magic to spark the imagination. Its ending is happy and has morals to teach.
It runs not in one direction. It jumps from past to present and past again and from place to place but all comes together eventually. So it can be a hard read for a kid that has a hard time jumping around.

Its also a page turner!! The author did fabulous and making the reader want more. Every page leads to the next. We had a hard time taking it slow. (We studied it as we went)
So I just wanted to share a great read for kids that can handle all the emotions and turmoil along with imagination and excitement.
Oh it also is good for vocabulary as the author uses less common words for common things. 😉

Save money!! A lot of money!! Plus this is the perfect soap for front loading machines as it has no sudsing agent added!!!! Sudsing agent are unnecessary chemicals. A lot of the ingredients in store bought soaps are not needed.

I buy my borax and washing soda and baking soda in bulk, big boxes. This alone save money as I only buy these products once a year. Cost for them, 15 dollars total and enough of soap for a family of 4 for 1 year.
I also use Castle bar soap as its cheap and available locally.

Ingredients:

Borax

Washing soda

Castle soap or other lye based soap.

Baking soda *optional

Scented oil *optional

*This recipe is for 170 Fl. Oz. of finished soap.

Ok instructions.
Dump in a pot, I have an old pot that uis for only my soap, 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing soda. Grate 1/3 bar of lye based soap. I use castle soap. My grater is for soap only. I have another, better, grater for food.

I also add 1/4 cop baking soda so my soap stays in pure liquid form. Without the baking soda the soap would take on a dumpling consistency. I don’t care for that as I found in my HD washer the pure liquid works best. Baking soda is also a great odor fighter.

Then add water, any temperature will do. I add one gallon in the pot.

Stir and turn on the heat. Its cloudy at first.

Heat till simmering and continue till the liquid is clear.

Once liquid is clear, turn off heat.

Let sit till cool. It will turn cloudy again.

Once it turns back to cloudy and its cool stir once again. We have clothes soap!

Its cool and bubbly.
Now you can pour into your chosen container.

I use an old store container that someone gave me. Its the same one I have used for over 2 years now. Its 170 FL OZ. So after I pour in my cooled soap, I fill it the rest of the way with water, shake well. You can also add any scented oils you may like. Add to desired amount. (This is of course more costly) I do not add sent as I am fine with my clothes smelling like fresh clean water. 😀

Before washing a load of clothes I always give my bottle of soap a shake just to be sure its well mixed still. I fill my machine soap cup to its full mark. My machine is a front loader.